Sharing pornography has been commonplace in the offices and staff
rooms of Virgin Blue for years, a group of workers sacked by the
airline claim. And they say that, far from objecting to the practice,
airline management openly condoned it.At least five of the more than 25
Virgin Blue workers, sacked as part of a company-wide crackdown on
pornography, are set to challenge the terminations in court as unfair
dismissals.
In their applications to the workplace relations tribunal the workers
claim that, while watching pornography at work is officially against
the rules at Virgin, the behaviour has been "a custom and practice of
the workplace for a number of years and has been condoned by management
throughout this time".
One of the sacked workers told the
Herald that sex had
always been part of the airline, from the marketing strategies of owner
Richard Branson to staff recruitment methods, and this had extended to
the culture of the workplace.
"Virgin was sold to us as a good times employer and a sexy place to
work - it's part of the culture," said the staff member, who asked not
to be named.
"The managers knew the porn was going around. It was stuff that was
circulating through the company. It was sent to me and I sent it on to
other people - and on that basis they dismissed me."
Virgin Blue says that each of the sacked staff members received a
warning prior to being dismissed, which they chose to ignore.But the Transport Workers Union, which is representing the workers,
says in many cases this warning was made after the alleged breaches took
place, and that workers ceased their pornography-swapping practices
once it was received.
"The change in policy should not be made retrospectively when the
company in the past has condoned encouraged this culture through
management," TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said.
"Virgin should have proper training regarding inappropriate offensive
material, starting with Richard Branson, the editor of the in-flight
magazine
Voyeur, and the entire staff and management.
"It is understood Virgin is undertaking a company-wide investigation
into pornography use, with everyone from engineers to cabin crew having
their computers scanned by high-tech computer programs that email
inboxes for skin-toned images.
A Virgin Blue spokeswoman said the airline
would "defend our actions vigorously".